JAPAN REFERENCE 


LIBRARY 


-<y 


N EW YORK 




U. S. Government 
Co ator of In! 

1 B R A H Y 



ODE 



THE MIKADO OF JAPAN 



First of thy race — first of thy nation's Kings ! 

Who see'st and weigh 'st the world by reason's light, 

Not judging by old Custom's siglit, - 
But by the rolling tide of men and things, — 
Thou may'st sow broad-cast o'er thy brilliant land 

New thoughts and hopes as glowing as thine own, 
Burying grim Idols in thy deep sea-sand, 

That men may kneel at shrines from slavery won. 
Those slaveries of soul, designed 

By the close-veil'd mysterious power 

Which Priest-craft bred for Thee, and all, 
By thine own sceptre fall ! 

Their depths thy piercing brain hath counter-mined 
The fabric sinks in one black thunder-shower — 

And Life's expanding wings flame up behind ! 



ODE TO THE MIKADO OE JAPAN. 



The mind of man 
Once open'd, claims a boundless span ; 

Thou canst no more 

Contract its shore 
Than make a flood-tide ebb at thy command. 

Take then thy stand 
On Nature's constant love and youth, 

Her heart and truth ; — 

And thy resolve to search and weigh 
All creeds that ferment 'neath this pregnant day, 

Then choose the loftiest — hold thou fast, 

And thy rare-flowered crown shall ever last 
In star-like record when its bloom hath passed ! 



in. 

There was a Dome, like midnight 
Lit up by blood-red lightning ! 
And deep within 
A demon din, — 
With many a sight 
Of ghastly horror whitening 
Faces and forms, e'en while the flames were brightening ! 
The screams of those wild massacres 
Long echoed down the shuddering years ; 
And yet we know the self-same creed 
For which those proselyting martyrs died, 
Hath caused unnumbered victims thus to bleed 
Before its symbols deified ! 
0, Great Creative Spirit ! 
Can man inherit 






ODE TO THE MIKADO OF JAPAN. 

Thine linage, yet disgrace it — 
Distort and half erase it, 
Till Nature scarce can trace it, 
While to such night-dreams crowd on crowd, 

Sheep — swine — and sages — 
Pray secretly, or fierce and loud, 
Blasting a land for ages ! 



IV. 

Heap'd clouds at noon ! 
Night's high festoon ! 
The piled-up books of the Tycoon 
Were like the mountains of the moon ! 
Glorious to dream of — but to climb 
Impossible, or to divine, 
Grow grapes on, olives, or to mine, 
Or put to any use of human time ! 

But thou, Mikado, thou hast spoken 
A new word — and all locks are broken ! 
The gates gape wide — 
The rising tide 
BriDgs minds of every nation side by side ; 

And secrets deep as Southern skies, 
In chronicles, porcelain, metals, woods, silks, dyes, 
Steel, ivory, garden-beds — and lies 
Of mortal Pagods, meet all eyes ! 



Deal with us — and believe that we 
Deal honestly \ 



JAPAN REFERENCE 
LIBRARY 

NEW YORK 



ODE TO THE MIKADO OF JAPAN. 

Be friendly, as you find us friends, — 
Each having his own ends, 

Frankly and openly ! 
Beware of Hell-born War ! 
Earth's branding scar 
Through History ! 
Degrading man the beast beneath, 
Who wars but from necessity, 
And builds no Glory on his fellows' death ! 



VI. 

Wise Sovereign ! who hath sent from dazzling seas 

Thy Envoys to far- distant shores, 
Be thou not dazzled by the swarming bees — ■ 
Their human hives and stores ! 
Their armies, ships, magnificence — 
Nor by each fine Court-eloquence ; — 
But note what hath been won 
'Midst a few sands, called ' years,' 
From Earth's inexhaustible wonders ! — from the Sun !- 
From man's soul-swaddling fears ! — 
By Intellect and Science, and the Will 
To know what can be known, while yearning still 
Up tow'rds the vision'd foot-stool of God's throne ! 



VII. 

Mikado ! be not sudden to conceive 

Love — hatred — or indifference — 
But each illuminated tome receive 

Which Europe old, or young America, 



ODE TO THE MIKADO OF JAPAN. 

Before thee proudly may lay bare, — 
Cross-questioning each by generous Common-sense ; 
As one who searching many a beach, 
Selects and stores the best from each. 
Thus act — and in futurity 
Thy country's rational idol thou wilt be ; 
The ancient splendours of Japan 
Will dwindle to a painted fan, 
And the rich flowers of all her Kings, 
Beside thy fruits, be childish things ! 




\ 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 
(724)779-2111 



